FloraPhotography - Surreal Worlds

Surreal Worlds

Unit Overview

What is Surrealism?

Surrealism is an art movement that began in the 1920's. Artists such as Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, and Rene Magritte contributed to the Surrealism movement. Imagery from this movement involved subject matter pertaining to the subconcious. In other words, the imagery was like a dream. The artists combined imagery in a way that seemed like a dream. The subjects were painted in a realistic fashion, however the combination of the objects was impossible. These artists used three basic concepts for creating their dream scenes. They uses juxtaposition, levitation, and scale changes. Juxtaposition involves combining unrelated objects together. Levitation is merely floating objects. They used scale changes to make really large objects small and small objects large.

Unit Requirements

Draw 3 sketches of possible surrealism compositions. Make sure your sketches include objects that you will be able to take photographs of.
Create 2 surreal compositions that combine several photographs together.
Each composition must combine at least 4 different photographs (that YOU have taken). Be sure to save the original photographs that you use.
You must use Adobe Photoshop to combine your photographs. You CANNOT physically cut and paste the photographs together!!! (I will give a demonstration on the software)
Use Juxtaposition, levitation, and scale changes to create Surrealism. Be sure to add shadows under pasted objects to make the scene more believable.
Print and mat your best composition. You will only get to print ONE of your compositions. (I will give a matting demonstration)
Remember to BE CREATIVE!!! If you don’t think it is interesting, no one else will either!

Important Terminology

Term	Definition	Example
Surrealism	Are movement involving fantastical imagery pertaining to the subconscious; Art movement where compositions include dream-like imagery.	Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
Juxtaposition	Placing two objects together that are normally not seen together.	Time Transfixed by Rene Magritte
Levitation	Floating objects.	Golconda by Rene Magritte
Scale Changes	Changing the size of objects to make large objects small and small objects large.	Les Valeurs Personnelles by Rene Magritte